Country Engagement Strategy 2023-25 - Haiti
Summary — The Caribbean Development Bank's strategic framework for engaging with Haiti from 2023-2025, allocating USD 32.2 million to address urgent development needs across four pillars including food security, sustainable energy, human capital, and environmental resilience.
Key Findings
- Haiti experienced severe crises during 2017-2021 including presidential assassination, political instability, armed gang violence, natural disasters, and COVID-19 impacts.
- The country faces significant security challenges with criminal gangs targeting ports, highways, and critical infrastructure.
- USD 32.2 million allocated through Special Development Funds for the 2023-2025 strategy period.
- Four strategic pillars maintained: food security, sustainable energy, human capital/MSME development, and environmental resilience.
- Implementation framework enhanced to better address fragile state operational challenges.
Full Description
This document presents the Caribbean Development Bank's Country Engagement Strategy for Haiti covering 2023-2025, designed to address Haiti's urgent development needs while positioning the Bank to better engage with its only fragile member state. The strategy maintains four strategic pillars from the previous country strategy: enhancing food and nutrition security, increasing access to sustainable energy, improving human capital and MSME capacity, and strengthening environmental resilience and disaster risk management.
The strategy responds to severe crises that Haiti faced during the previous strategy period, including the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021, political instability, security challenges from armed criminal gangs, natural disasters including a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, COVID-19 pandemic impacts, and social unrest. These challenges significantly affected the implementation of the previous strategy and continue to present operational difficulties.
The CES allocates USD 32.2 million from Special Development Funds to support an indicative program of assistance aimed at achieving specific development outcomes including increased agricultural investment and production, enhanced sustainable energy production and use, improved human capital and MSME capacity, and increased environmental resilience to climate change and disasters. The strategy aligns with CDB's strategic objectives and incorporates cross-cutting themes of gender equality and good governance.
Implementation will be supported through the Haiti Country Office, collaboration with development partners and local agencies, and enhanced internal processes adapted for fragile state contexts. The strategy acknowledges the significant risks posed by Haiti's fragile state status while maintaining commitment to supporting the country's development objectives and poverty reduction goals as outlined in Haiti's Strategic Development Plan 2030.